Chap 1&2.doc

Abnormal Psychology
Chapter 1:
• The study of abnormal psychology is the study of people who suffer mental,
emotional and often physical pain as a result of some form of psychological
or mental disorder, often referred to as psychopathology.
• The context or circumstances surrounding a behavior, influences whether a
behavior is viewed as abnormal
• Different theories on what defines abnormality/abnormal behavior:
o Deviation from cultural or societal norms Behaviors become defined as
abnormal if they violate a culture’s gender roles (gender expectations)
o Focus on the unusualness of the behavior, the discomfort of the person
exhibiting the behavior, the presence of mental illness, and the
maladaptiveness of the behavior
• Cultural Relativism:
o This perspective holds that no universal standards or rules exist for
labeling a behavior as abnormal but instead behaviors can be abnormal
only relative to cultural norms
o Different definitions of abnormality are used across different cultures
o E.g. In Western countries, after the death of a loved one, one would be
expected to mourn his/death for a few weeks or month and is expected
to move on after that. If one continues to think or talk about their dead
loved ones a great deal after the period of mourning, they are thought
to be ‘abnormal’.
 However, in certain collectivist cultures, such as in Japan,
maintaining emotional bonds with deceased loved ones is not
only normal but also prescribed for bereaved people (people
who are deprived of their loved ones, due to death etc.)
o Psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz, noted that throughout history, societies
have labeled individuals and groups abnormal to justify controlling or
silencing them
 E.g. Hitler branded Jews abnormal and used this as one
justification for the Holocaust
o Drapetomania: a sickness that caused them to desire freedom (slaves
who tried to escape their maters, when slave trade was active in the
United States)
o The cultural relativist perspective creates many difficulties in defining
abnormality and most psychologists these days do not take an extreme
relativist view on abnormality
• Unusualness:
o Behaviors that are unusual, or rare, are considered abnormal, whereas
behaviors that are typical, or usual, are considered normal
o Unusualness of any behavior depends in part on a culture’s norms for
that behavior
o Issues with the unusualness criterion for abnormality:  1) The criterion may seem objective but someone still has to
decide how rare a behavior must be to call it abnormal
• Choosing a cut­off is as subjective as relying on
personal opinions as to what is abnormal and normal
 2) Many rare behaviors are positive for the individual and for
society, and most people would object to labeling such
behaviors as abnormal
• E.g. We won’t label the playing of a piano virtuoso as
abnormal, we label it as gifted
• Discomfort:
o Behaviors should be considered abnormal only if the individual suffers
discomfort and wants to be rid of the behaviors
o An example of one behavior pattern is homosexuality
 It is a characteristic that causes them no discomfort and that
don’t want to alter or eliminate
 In 1973, the APA removed homosexuality from its list of
recognized psychological disorders
o However, some therapists object to the subjective discomfort criterion
because people are not always aware of the problems their behaviors
create for themselves or for others
 Some people might not experience great discomfort however
they could be unknowingly harming themselves (people who
have lost touch with reality and walk aimlessly on the streets
etc.)
 The behaviors of some people cause great discomfort in others,
if not in themselves
• Such as e.g. compulsive liars, thieves ­­­­ they may not
experience great discomfort, however people around
them might be ­­­ thus we may want to call their
behaviors abnormal
• Mental Illness:
o Behaviors that result from mental disease or illness
o This criterion implies that a clear, identifiable physical process exists
that differs from mental health and leads to specific behaviors or
symptoms
o Many theorists believe that most mental health problems are due to a
number of complex biological and psychosocial factors, rather than to
single abnormal genes or disease processes
o When giving a person’s psychological symptoms a diagnosis, it is
simply a label for that set of symptoms
• Maladaptiveness: o Behaviors and feelings that are maladaptive ­­­ that cause people to
suffer distress and that prevent them from functioning in daily life
­­­ are abnormal
o Mental health professionals tend to reserve the label ‘maladaptiveness’
for behaviors and feelings that are highly unusual or deviant
o 3 components of maladaptiveness: 3Ds­­­ dysfunction, distress and
deviance
o The maladaptivenss criteria call for subjective judgments
o The criteria still depend on societal norms
o Even when the criteria can be used confidently to identify a certain
group of behaviors as abnormal, culture and gender can still
influence the expression of those behaviors and the way those
behaviors are treated:
 1) Culture and gender influence how likely it is that a given
maladaptive behavior will be shown
• e.g. men are twice as likely as woman to suffer
problems related to alcohol use because facts suggests
that the male is more susceptible to alcoholism due to
biology, social pressures etc.
 2) Culture and gender can influence the ways people express
distress or lose touch with reality
 3) Culture and gender can influence people’s willingness to
admit to certain types of maladaptive behaviors
• E.g. expression of certain emotions in certain cultures
may differ
 4) Culture and gender can influence the types of treatments that
are deemed acceptable or helpful for maladaptive behaviors
• E.g. women may be more willing to accept
psychological treatments for problems than men
• Harmful Dysfunction:
o Jerome Wakefield suggested that mental disorders can be generally
defined as harmful dysfunctions because they involve a harmful failure
of internal mechanisms to perform their naturally selected functions
o However, not all dysfunction leads to disorders, rather a dysfunction is
a mental disorder only when the dysfunction causes some harm to the
person as determined by the standards of that person’s culture
• Categorical vs. Dimensional Ratings of Mental Illness:
o DSM­IV­TR (diagnostic statistical manual of mental disorders),
represents that categorical perspective that disorders are qualitatively
distinct syndromes
o An alternative approach is the dimensional perspective ­­­ which
views mental functioning as a continuum from normality to
abnormality
 Classifies clinical presentations based on the “quantification of
attributes rather than assignment to categories” • Positive Psychology:
o The study of positive emotion, positive character, and positive
institutions as well as the study of the conditions and processes that
contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups,
and institutions.
o Aim of positive psychology­­­ to study the ways that people feel joy,
show altruism, and create healthy families and institutions
• Diathesis­ Stress Models:
o Made up of 2 parts:
 Diathesis­­­ a vulnerability or predisposition to developing a
mental disorder
• Various factors including genetic, neurobiological,
psychological and sociocultural aspects may pay a role
in a person’s diathesis
 However, it cannot alone cause a disorder, a trigger, is needed.
The trigger being stress
• A mental disorder occurs when an individual with a
vulnerability experiences some stressful life event
o Individuals with a higher diathesis may need only a small amount of
stress to activate a disorder
Historical Perspective on Abnormality:
• 3 types of possible theories of the causes of abnormal behaviors:
o 1) Biological theories
 Saw abnormal behavior as similar to physical diseases
 Cure: restoration of the body to good health
o 2) Supernatural theories
 Saw abnormal behavior as a result of divine intervention,
curses, demonic possession and personal sin
 Cure: religious rituals, exorcisms, confessions, and atonements
o 3) Psychological theories
 Saw abnormal behavior as a result of traumas, such as
bereavement, or chronic stress
 Cure: rest, relaxation, a change of environment, and certain
herbal medicines were sometimes helpful
• Stone Age people view abnormal behavior as a result of supernatural forces
• Witch hunts began in the late Middle Ages and some accussed witches may
have suffered from mental disroders
• Psyhic epidemics have been explained as caused by spirit possession but are
now seen as a result of the effects of social conditions on people’s self­
petheptthn
• 18 ­19 century: advocates of gentler treatment of people with abnormal
behavior began to establish asylums for these people
Emergence of Modern Perspectives:  German psychiatrist, Wilhelm Griesinger
o First systematic argument that all psychological disorders can be
explained in terms of brain pathology
 Modern biological theories of psychological disorders have focused on the
role of genetics, structural abnormalities in the brain and biochemical
imbalances
 Viennese neurologist, Sigmund Freud
o Was convinced that must of the mental life of an individual remains
hidden from consciousness
o Psychoanalysis: the study of the unconscious
 Wilhem Wundt
o Established the first experimental psychology laboratory in 1879 in
Leipzig, Germany
 Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov
o Classical conditioning
 John Watson
o Studied important human behaviors, such as phobias, in terms of
classical conditioning
 B.F Skinner
o Studied how the consequences of behaviors shape the likelihood of
their recurrence
 Behaviorism: the study of the effect of reinforcements and punishments on
behavior
 The study of cognitions: thought processes that influence behavior and
emotion
 Deinstitutionalization: move patients with mental disorders from custodial
mental health facilities, where they were isolated and received little treatment,
to community­based mental health centers so as to recover more fully or live
more satisfying lives by being integrated into the community
Chapter 2:
 A theory is a set of ideas that provides a framework for asking questions about
a phenomenon, and that for gathering and interpreting information ab